Weekly Update, September 19 - 23

Hello Awesome First Graders and Amazing First Grade Families!

Updated this week: Reading Logs
Reading logs can now be turned in weekly, on Friday. The children should still keep their reading logs in their folders, as I will check in with them throughout the week during reading group time.

Reminders for the week:
1. Our zoo field trip is on Friday! Please have your child wear his/her blue “Johnston’s Busy Bees” shirt. Please send in a completely disposable, labeled lunch and drink with your child.
2. Picture day is this Wednesday, September 21.

What a fun day we had learning about zebras and getting ready for our zoo field trip! The children were so focused during our science guided reading and they can't wait until Friday's field trip! It is so great to see all of their excitement! Today we learned the word unique and why zebras are unique. Kids – be sure to tell you parents why zebras are special! Tomorrow we will learn about lions. We will learn the word “distinguishing” and we will learn how to distinguish between male and female lions. On Wednesday we will learn about polar bears and we will learn about the arctic climate. On Thursday we will learn about monkeys and we will learn the characteristics of spectacled langurs, snub nose monkeys and owl monkeys. Each day the children will write three facts about the animal and then draw a picture. On Friday, the kids will put all their animal pages together to make a book! It’s going to be a wild week!

In writing we are working on non-fiction writing by writing animal facts. We will also get practice at the end of the week writing thank you letters.

In reading we are working on non-fiction reading with our animal study.  We will focus on strategies for reading more difficult text.

The kids loved centers today! The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The children listen to "Going to the Zoo." They have a monkey match to complete and then they write their favorite part of the story.
2. Science - The children learn about the names of different animals by completing an animal word search. After the word search, they write about their favorite animal in their science journal.
3. Writing - The children write about their favorite zoo animal. They are using lots of great detail to describe why it is the favorite.
4. Math - The children are preparing for our upcoming assessments by completing addition practice. They are also working on number formation.  The children also worked in pairs with flash cards to practice addition.  They really enjoyed this!
5. Reading - The children learned self selected from a variety of animal/zoo books and they read in the Bee Quiet Corner.

We practiced our spelling words. The children came home with Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. This week we are working on the "en" family. We got in some more homophone practice and we have 2 tricky homophones this week: for and four. The children have had exposure to these homophones over the last few weeks, so this should be review for them.

In math we are working on chapter 4, a subtraction application chapter. Subtraction is traditionally much more challenging than addition and so I am excited to see how well the kids are doing with this concept. We will also completed a zebra glyph today.  The kids are getting very proficient at glyphs!  Way to go!

Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston